Hopefully I can explain this enough that someone could give some advice. We are seeking legal advice too but it would be good to get perspective on it from a few people who don't know me and won't just take "our side" on it.
My mother in law passed away last May and it turned out she did not have a will.
The house she owns is in her name only. My husband has 2 brothers so it was assumed that her whole estate would just automatically go to them equally.
Her partner of 18 years lived with her (part time for the first 10 years or so then fully in more recent years) but also owned his own property nearby which he still owns.
The day my MIL died her partner told my husband the house was in her name because he bought it for her and wanted her to have security.
Her partner is now making a claim for her property, telling us he bought the house with the intention to live there together and believes the property should fully be given to him. From information we have found we know that the property was bought in 2003 under the "right to buy" scheme so because it was my mother in laws house they had to put the property in her name only. Her discount was 38% of the price of the property. They have never changed the deeds to include him and she made no indication to us that she was going to do that.
Before he put his claim in my husband had a conversation with him and his brothers where he suggested they include her partner to all get an equal share but this was rejected by him.
There is a lot more to this than I have included such as family politics and mental health illnesses but I wanted to keep to the facts as ultimately that is what the law will decide on.
It would be nice to get some perspective from other people or anyone who has experienced something similar so we have some idea of what to expect to happen next.
Thank you for reading.